Home extends beyond one’s immediate residence to the city and cultural surroundings. In this section, artists re-examine their hometowns and depict cultural symbols associated with specific places. Memories and perceptions of the hometown are often fluid and can take a variety of forms--from fractured elements pieced together and abstracted representation of a townscape to portrayals of festivities and landmarks. Works in this section show the influence of larger cultural environments on artistic expressions and identities.

Home is an Uncountable Noun (2018-2019)

Ruowei Gong

University of Virginia

Shanghai, China

“‘Home’ is an uncountable noun. A place where cars could hardly pass—this was my only impression of Beijing’s hutong. Not until I took a thorough walk did I realize how miraculous it is. Under a narrow ray of sky, every aspect of the lives of residents is displayed. The tiny, obscure zone has been the home of several generations, and it is impossible to know the exact number of residents. Aged trees, paint-shedding walls, outdated decorations—they are the carriers of history, recording the lives of each generation. Unfortunately, many hutongs, the ‘home’ of countless people in history and present, are to be demolished and replaced by modern architectures. All the traces will be erased in reality, so let’s not abandon the ‘home’ in memory.”

Home is an Uncountable Noun2018-2019Photo collage — *Home is an Uncountable Noun*
2018-2019
Photo collage

Heavenly Joy (2019); Lao Ge (2018)

Yuheng (Peter) Deng

Haverford College

Chengdu, China

“I believe that art is a vocal cord that sends the artist’s opinion to the world. In this exhibition, I wish to demonstrate my home from two perspectives and dive into the stories of people’s lives and struggles in Chengdu.”

Heavenly Joy 天府之乐

2019

Oil on canvas

Chengdu is my homeland. Every time I think of it, the joyful scene where people play in the Huanghuazxi park comes into my mind. Modernization is reshaping Chengdu every year, but the soul of the city never changes.

Lao Ge 老哥

2018

Oil on canvas

Big cities in China are the hotbed of opportunities and social resources. Thousands of migrant workers from rural areas flood into big cities every year to pursue a better life. We call those people "Lao Ge". They face the burden of high housing prices in the cities and limited educational opportunities. My home town Chengdu is the home of 466,000 migrant workers. This painting is a portrayal of a migrant worker in the summer. The scene of him sighing in stress strikes me. Most people see China as the second-largest economy in the world. However, people sometimes could not see these people who build up prosperity.

Habitat (2020)

Zyra Zhang

School of Visual Arts

Zhejiang, China

“Born in Yuyao, a historical and beautiful city in Zhejiang, the ancient Chinese culture transfused into my blood at a young age. At that point, a calligraphy brush opened my door to the art world. Since then, I have been developing my own visual language and color palettes that can bring new life to my art. I like keeping track of my daily thoughts, dreams, and whatever interesting going on in my mind. It is exciting to participate in this exhibition to share my feelings and definition of "home". I hope my art can echo with you!”

Habitat2020Digital artI built this imaginary space with certain elements to represent personal impression of hometown Yuyao. I was considering the relationship between home and myself when staying abroad alone during the quarantine period. This piec… — *Habitat*
2020
Digital art
I built this imaginary space with certain elements to represent personal impression of hometown Yuyao. I was considering the relationship between home and myself when staying abroad alone during the quarantine period. This piece, however, brings up my redefinition of home because the instability of modern migration, overseas study, the epidemic condition of this year and other factors have already impacted the conventional concept of home. It becomes a faith instead of a place or a room where I actually live. Then I rendered the image with free-willed lines and color variations. Such existing space in my brain has transformed realistic landscape into a fantastical, peaceful habitat, in which the sense of belonging can settle my mind.

My Hometown - Daliang Mountains of Sichuan series 我的家乡 - 四川大凉山系列 (2019-2020)

Xiao Sun 孙晓

Art College of Guizhou University, Hubei Institute of Fine Arts

Sichuan, China

As a child born and raised under the nurture of the culture in Liangshan, I feel the urge to pick up my brush for my hometown, the Liangshan Yi Autonomous Prefecture (四川省凉山彝族自治州). It sits at the intersection of Yunnan and Sichuan and is home to a large population of the Yi people (彝族), along with other ethnic minority groups in China. It also has one of the four spaceports in China.

The people of my hometown are kind, friendly, hospitable, and enthusiastic. They greet friends and guests with their best cuisine, play the Moon Lute at gatherings, and invite visitors to sing, drink and celebrate the wondrous night.

Impressions of the Torch Festival of the Yi, the New Year Festival (阔时节) of the Lisu (傈僳族), and the spaceport are engraved deep in my mind. Black, red, and yellow are the three main colors used by the Yi in their traditional garments and lacquerware. In Yi's culture, black is the earth's color, representing solemnity; red is the color of bravery and passion; and yellow is the color of light and aspirations for the future. I use these colors and totems as an artistic representation to depict my hometown.